Elated Booth sure Monaco shows Marussia progress

An elated John Booth says that Marussia's maiden points in Formula 1 shows that they are making progress in the sport.

Jules Bianchi finished in ninth place during Sunday's Monaco Grand Prix to end Marussia's four year points drought.

Team principal Booth is sure that, while acknowledging the high rate of attrition aided his team, they can consistently fight with the lower end of the midfield.

"Naturally we are overjoyed at the result and it is a fantastic reward for all the hard work and determination, not just this year, but over the past four and a bit seasons," said Booth.

"My congratulations to the team in Monaco, back at base in Banbury and our much newer colleagues at Ferrari. Our powertrain partnership is young, but we saw the potential right from the start of the relationship and we are now really starting to see the results of a true integration.

"A lot of this weekend’s clear step stems from the progress we made at the recent Barcelona test. We were cautiously optimistic about our performance increment, but we really needed to see it translate into a good race here in Monaco before we could feel too confident.

"We are only a young team, but we have every reason to believe in ourselves and a positive future. Clearly, in the race, we benefited from some attrition but, throughout, we were running at a pace that allowed us to stay in position with the cars around us.

"It is clear that we are now able to race with the back of the midfield pack. The penalty situation was a cause for concern and the way in which we served this with Jules was the product of some unusual circumstances, but we understand and accept the decisions. Thankfully, the second penalty was not the determining factor that it could have been."